RIP Sonos Apple iPod Dock (2010 - 2018)

At one time, one of the most popular ways to listen to music through your Sonos Home Audio system was to grab your iPod and dock it into the Sonos iPod dock. Back in 2010 Sonos launched the iPod dock to much fanfare, it was part of Apples “Made for iPod” line whereby consumer electronics companies got to pay huge fees to Apple for the privilege of letting people play their music on their own iPods, through their own sound systems.

The iPod Dock for Apple iPods and iPhones for SONOS

The idea behind the iPod dock was a good one, at that time (barely less than a decade ago) almost everyone who listened to digital music had to be doing so on an MP3 player of some kind or an Apple iPod, the iPod was the most popular device and iTunes was a popular way to collect music.

By plugging your iPod into the dock you could - using the SONOS controller (remember them) select and choose any music from any docked iPod in your SONOS ecosystem. The problem with iPod docks (all of them) is that Apple are constantly changing interfaces, plugs, adaptors and software so eventually they just stop working properly.

Most of the people still using a SONOS ipod dock in 2018 will be using it to run music off an old iPod they had lying about, it’s easier to store music on iTunes or use something like SPotify and stream directly from the cloud nowadays BUT some places don’t have internet, so an old ipod loaded up with your favourite music could still be useful, not for long though!

Wireless iPod dock

Sonos have decided they will stop supporting the iPod dock, essentially they are “Bricking” the device. Once the October update comes (In October) and is downloaded to your Sonos system firmware the iPod dock will simply cease to work. Sonos optimistically tell us in their press release (below) that the dock “can still be used as a charger for older Apple devices” Doesn’t seem a great tradeoff for people who are still using iPods docked in their Sonos though, you probably won’t hold up long without updating either with the amount of nagging that products do to get you to upgrade to the latest firmware nowadays.

The word “brick”, when used in reference to consumer electronics, describes an electronic device such as a mobile device, game console, or router that, due to severe physical damage, a serious misconfiguration, corrupted firmware, or a hardware problem, can no longer function, hence, is as technologically useful as a brick.

— Wikipedia

Brick

Introduced in 2010, the Sonos Dock provided a way to play music directly from your Apple devices to your Sonos system without the need of a wireless connection or the Sonos app.

For eight years, Dock has provided a way to keep some of Apple’s oldest, unsupported devices continuing to play music on your Sonos system, long after they could no longer stream music on the Sonos app. However, with our latest software update in October, we’ll no longer be able to support the Dock as part of your Sonos system.

What does this mean?

When you accept our next software update, your Dock will no longer connect to Sonos.

You can still enjoy music from your older Apple devices by connecting via line-in to any compatible Sonos product (Play:5, Connect, Connect:Amp).

Once the software release has been accepted, the Dock will not play music to your Sonos system, but it can still be used as a charger for older Apple devices.

If you’d like help accessing your local music library on a supported device, please see our how-to guide, or reach out to our Care team. And now with voice, direct control, and AirPlay 2, there are more ways than ever to get more of the music you love on your Sonos system.

Ultimately the decision to update your Sonos system is yours. If you choose not to update, you will need to turn off updates on both your Sonos system and all devices where you have the Sonos app installed. Going forward, you will no longer be able to add new speakers or devices to control your Sonos. You also will not be able to take advantage of future feature/functionality improvements or security updates.